SLAYER's PAUL BOSTAPH Is 'Absolutely' Pleased With How 'Repentless' Has Been Received

On June 10, Kaaos TV conducted an interview with SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph at the South Park festival in Tampere, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he is pleased by the fan response to SLAYER‘s latest album, 2015’s “Repentless”:

Bostaph: “Absolutely. Whenever you’re putting a new record out, you’re not sure what other people are gonna think. You know you like it, but it’s always nice when you get positive feedback from people about the fact that they like it.”

On whether he was nervous about being accept by SLAYER‘s fans again after being away from the band for so long:

Bostaph: “I don’t think I was nervous about whether fans would take me back or not. I think it was more or less… The focus was mostly on writing a good record. It’s got nothing to do with me; it’s gotta do with the band. And, you know, in between the time I did ‘God Hates Us All’ [and I rejoined SLAYER], I did a couple of good records also; I also did a TESTAMENT record, ‘The Formation Of Damnation’, and I also did EXODUS‘s ‘Shovel Headed Kill Machine’. So I’ve been out there. It’s not like I just went away. I did some good records, so I think that I built up some faith with some people who followed my career, as well as the bands that I played with.”

On how he feels about more and more bands releasing EPs and singles instead of full-length albums:

Bostaph: “Every album I’ve been a part of, it’s a culmination of a period of time in your life. No matter what album or what band it’s been that I’ve done it with, that body of work, those ten songs or whatever, sometimes they’re not written in one day; I mean, they’re written over months’ or years’ worth of time. So I’m a bigger fan of the albums. But then again, coming out with a single is nothing new to the music industry; that’s what they used to do back in the ’40s and ’50s. They’d put one single out, and if that did well, then you do another single. I think I want records, because that shows me how good an artist is. Some of my favorite albums, there’s not one bad song on the record. So I think, for me, I’d rather see albums. Because I love the album artwork. When I get in a car and I drive somewhere, I wanna listen to a whole album. I don’t wanna be switching stuff out. We have MP3s nowadays, but I still listen to an entire record. When I go on long drives, and I do, I like to hear a whole record. So that’s just me.”

As previously reported, SLAYER will join forces with special guests ANTHRAX and DEATH ANGEL this fall for a seven-week North American beat down. The dates start in Cleveland on September 9 and will hit both major and secondary markets across the continent.

Fans will hear their favorite SLAYER songs from the band’s 30-plus-year discography, as well as a few of the newer songs from “Repentless”, named “The Metal Album of the Year” by Guitar World. SLAYER and ANTHRAX stormed through Europe together last fall, amassing a string of sensational live reviews, so North American fans, this will be a night of metal music that should not be missed.

“Repentless” debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200, having shifted 50,000 equivalent album units in the week ending September 17, 2015.

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Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it's sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.